Avid gardeners are generally very green folk. They like digging in the dirt, recycling and composting, and easily incorporate other people’s discards into their outdoor decor. When looking for interesting pieces to decorate their yards, recycled metal garden art is a popular choice.
Recycled metal garden art is a true reflection of the artist’s personality and ingenuity. What may be trash to you or me is reborn in the hands of these eco-artists. One artist, Andrew Chase, makes amazing mechanical structures of giraffes, elephants and robots from recycled automobile and plumbing parts. He gets discarded engine and transmission parts from his local auto repair, and by combining these with plumbing pipes and fixtures he is able to create wonderful, moving creatures.
Old oil tanks and drums are quite commonly used to make metal garden art. Painted oil tanks that once supplied fuel to cottagers are cut down into brightly colored critters, including dogs with bones, dancing sheep or moose, lurking alligators and climbing frogs. For something a little different you can even add a diva or a devil!
In Haiti a growing crafts community is creating wonderful metal wall sculptures from flattened drums which were once used to transport oil or other products. After removing the ends these drums are flattened and then carved by hand into exotic works of art. Using only hammers, chisels and other simple tools, the artists carve elaborate, decorative designs out of the steel. Haitian drum art is world renowned and spreading in popularity. It makes a striking piece of wall art for inside the house or in the garden.
Saving bicycles from untimely graves a new breed of artists are using recycled bikes parts to create their art. Bike art has become so popular it is a genre of its own. With gears and wheels, nuts and bolts, spokes and bars, a bicycle is the perfect raw material for recycled metal art.
Part of the appeal of recycled metal garden art is the weathered and often rusted look of some of the pieces. Rusted metal has a natural, earthy feel to it and blends with the garden rather than making a loud statement. For this reason a lot of gardeners seek out pre-rusted metal art.
The ingenuity of artists working with recycled metal never ceases to amaze me. Add some recycled metal art to your yard and add instant character and charm.
Ann Wallis is a long-time gardener and lover of beautiful things for her garden. All year round she pores through gardening magazines and websites looking for colorful perennials to fill the holes in her garden and fun, whimsical garden art to add life and character to her yard.
